1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for culturing cells. More specifically, it relates to a method for regulating proliferation of cells.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
Cell therapy is a prominently applied medical technique. Methods for culturing cells in vitro are essential to clinical cell therapy. Normal cells require essential nutrients and growth factors to grow in the in vitro culture, otherwise they will undergo cell death due to the absence of regulation by the natural physical environment. Therefore, culturing cells in vitro involves not only promotion of the propagation of cells but also inhibition of death and differentiation so as to maintain in an original state with same characteristics, especially to prevent differentiation in the in vitro culture before the cells are later transplanted to a recipient.
An extracellular matrix is found to be able to regulate growth of cells. Hyaluronan (HA) is one of significant extracellular components and is reported that it can affect the adhesion, migration, proliferation, cell fate of mesenchymal cells and the developmental ability of embryonic cells in vitro (S. K. Nilsson et al. (2003), Blood, 101:856-862; D. Peck and C. M. Isacke, (1996), Curr. Biol., 6:5375-5385).
As the applicant knows, in the field of the art, there exist techniques either simply for promoting proliferation of cells in vitro with biological materials such as an extracellular matrix component or simply for preventing cell proliferation, differentiation and death in vitro with biological materials. There is a need for a method for regulating proliferation of cells by using a biological material to preserve and promote proliferation of cells as desired.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a method for regulating proliferation of cells to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.